ramblings

All posts filed under: Property Development

We did it! We have our new loft bedroom, all done and ready to rock. Four months after we started our build, i’m finally able to share the final reveal photos with you. I’m going to warn you right now, this post is PIC HEAVY. Initially I took about 70 photos. I know. That’s ridiculous. I’ve managed to whittle it down to about 30. Still far too many, but ya know what, just scroll along if any aren’t floating your boat. Here’s where we were back in September 2016: And here was my plan for the bedroom: Ok. So here we go. Do come in… The view from the landing into the bedroom. Gets me every time. Chooch the cat, can not get enough of this room. Mainly because she’s got a load of new rugs and blankets to paw at and ruin. We had to be clever with space here as we were limited with how much width we had with the two chimney stacks bookending each side of the bed. The Factorylux Maria Banjo wall …

Week 16? Is it? I’ve lost count now to be honest. It feels like we’ve been living in another universe where time as we know it doesn’t exist. We were hoping to be done for Christmas. And we should have been really. Easily. But we weren’t. And it was fine (it wasn’t, but you know what I mean). So the project continues into 2017 and every time I think we might have just one more week left to wait, something crops up. I’m fed up of waiting for the final reveal post now, so i’m going to have to write this Preveal post, just to satisfy myself really. Oh and to keep you guys up to date too I guess. And if i’m being totally honest, to thank all the brands that are working with me for being so patient throughout this whole project. I’ll be giving them a little shout out so you know who they are… First off, some slightly better photos of the staircase. Instead of a landing balustrade, I really wanted boxed in …

Happy January 2017 everyone. We made it! I enjoyed my week away from work, writing, interiors and all things loft extension, but it’s now time to crack on with life again. And i’m ready for it. It’s at this time of year, after taking the Christmas decs down and giving the house a good clean we start thinking about making home improvements and giving our homes a bit of love. My inbox has been rammed since December with people wanting some help, advice and design work done in January. Which is brilliant of course. Home Office in a Day My first day back at work in 2017 was a full house consultation in Manchester. The homeowner had been working really hard to save some money in order to give her family home, a lovely 3 bed, pre-war semi an update. When you’ve got several rooms to tackle, each room with its own issues and problems, it’s hard to know where to start. The last thing you want to do is go about it the wrong way, and …

Anyone who knows me or has bumped into me for the past week will know that they have not been allowed to mention the ‘S’ word. Anyone who has dared, has been given this face: I think it’s fair to say, at this point, the builder and I have no secrets about not enjoying working together. I’m not really that bothered by this. I’m not here to make friends, i’m here to get this build done and finished at some point in my lifetime. As you all know, the one piece of the puzzle we’ve been waiting for it the ‘S’ word. Maria Prästgårdsgata 43 – Styling: Thomas Lingsell, Photography: Andy Liffner I wrote a post months ago full of inspiration for our soon to be staircase. We loved the idea of a simple white stringer with blonde timber tread. Specifically birch plywood. If you like a bit of #Stairporn like me, I’d highly recommend a read of the post here. There are some beautiful flights of fancy to ogle. Geddit? Back to our slightly less glamorous interior: What should have taken 2-3 …

If you’re in or close to Leeds, you may have heard me on Wednesday last week. You might have mistaken the noise for a small pig being squeezed in a vice, but no, it was me. Screaming. I don’t remember the last time I felt so angry (it was probably the week before) but you know you’ve completely lost your shit when your husband comes home from work early. Without you having to even ask. Don’t jump! We’ve been waiting patiently for our staircase for 11 weeks now. Keep getting told, they’ll be started on it soon and it’ll be another week. Each and every time a new trade comes in to crack on with their job, I get; “When’s the staircase coming?” “Where’s the staircase? “Haven’t you got your staircase yet?” Erm, yes, don’t you like it. It’s there. We’ve had an aluminium staircase made to look just like a bloody ladder. **eye roll** The last we were told (Monday 14th November) is the staircase was being “made right now”. Factor in two weeks to make …

As you can see, i’ve been keeping really upbeat since my last loft post. Full of the joy of life I am. Honestly, i’m a pleasure to be around right now. View this post on Instagram Week 8 in the loft conversion house. Losing the will to live. Just like Bernard the orange plant. Will it ever end? Will it? Will it? A post shared by making spaces (@makingspacesnet) on Nov 13, 2016 at 5:18am PST We’ve just finished week nine and if i’m honest, I thought we’d be done by now. Not 100% done, but I thought the actual build would have been winding down. Alas, that is not the case. Things here are continuing to move slowly, but we’re certainly moving now. And there is a teeny tiny sliver of light shining at the end of a long, dark (and snowy) tunnel. That’s me sounding positive btw. The plastering has finally commenced (hooray!) and our plasterer has been busy working his way around the bedroom and all the way down our new gable wall. …

There are some things when you’re redecorating a room or redesigning a space that get forgotten about. They’re not normally on our list of considerations. Your builder, electrician, plumber will just fix in the most obvious, industry standard items. These items are in every room. They’re functional. They do the job and they’re fine. Just fine. But what if you don’t want fine? If you just stopped to consider these small, often unnoticed details, it can have a massive impact on a space. The devil is indeed in the detail. And there’s nothing like a build to highlight just how many small seemingly “none-decisions” can make a big difference to the design. We’re now at the point where the build is kind of complete. The rooms are getting plastered next week, first fix plumbing going in and door casings being built by the joiner. Which focuses my mind on: Skirting boards & architraves Door handles Lights, switches and sockets Skirting board and architrave We’ve (and when I say we’ve, I mean I’ve) uhmmed and ahhed over …

So what’s happened since last week? Well as the title suggests, it’s been a melange of loft extension based events. There’s been a lot of banging. MY WORD. So much banging. But banging means progress, and progress is good. Dormer tiled, old loft boards and joists ripped out, new joists fitted and another steel hoisted up for something or other. Something structural. Whatever. When can I get in? At this point i’m feeling pretty redundant, I just want to get up there and start waving my arms around showing everyone where things are going. So, to prevent me asking “is it done yet?” every 90 minutes, i’ve been keeping myself busy by placing orders for some of the key pieces making their way into our soon-to-be new rooms. Bedroom mood-board recap And my very first piece for the bedroom has arrived. Well apart from the brick wall, that’s already there. See the two ceiling lights either side of the bed? They’re going to be the bedside lights. These actually: Maria 180 lights from Urban Cottage Industries …

So where were we? (catch up on Wk 1 here) That’s it, the dormer was up and the new roof-line was ready to tile. Blimey, so much has happened since then. Come see. Phone pic Ta-da! A newly tiled roof with gable end. Going to take some getting used to the new house shape. The aluminium windows for the dormer have been measured and priced up. Our first quote of over £4.5k made me cry a little inside. Then punch a cushion. I know aluminium is expensive. I do know this. But £4.5k? That’s a car right there. Which reminds me, the quote for the windows came in the day before my car failed its MOT which cost me £700. **sigh** What do they say? When it rains it pours… something like that. The windows, however were something I wasn’t prepared to compromise on (along with everything else). They needed to be big. The bigger the better. And these are going to be just that. Luckily, we got another couple of quotes that came in as …

So you might have heard me mention recently, we’re converting our loft. It’s kind of a big deal for us. We’ve played around with several extension ideas since we moved here, discounting a loft extension at one point because we needed it so much for storage. (rubbish phone pics) We definitely, didn’t want to move. We already knew when we bought this place four years ago, it was a little on the small side. We were seriously lacking on the guest bedroom front and resorted to lugging a mattress downstairs for friends and family to sleep on our living room floor. And you know what. It sucked. Well no more. With the help of our amazing parents and the savings we’ve been squirrelling away, we finally decided a hip to gable loft extension is the best solution to all of our space problems. And it seems we’re not the only ones. More and more people are extending their homes and improving their living spaces to avoid the alternative of moving. In fact, since we got …